Far Away

We were a few minutes away from leaving the castle to begin searching for the void fox Ryoma. I wasn't even sure what that meant. And why did he leave Sana behind to wander Japan aimlessly?

I looked through my belongings inside my backpack, confirming that everything was there, and my hand came across my small flask of perfume that I always carry around. I sprayed some on my neck and wrists, trying to find a connection with my time and with what was considered normal to me. 

There was a knock on the door, and a few instants later Mina entered, wearing her usual ponytail. 

"What are you doing?" She curiously asked, observing the object in my hand.

"Oh, just applying some perfume!" I explained, putting it back inside my bag and walking closer to her.

"So that's why you had such a... strong smell," Mina commented, delicately scenting the air. Her face seemed a bit rosy, but it could have been my impression.

"It smells nice, right?" I smiled, placing my wrist near her nose. 

Her cheeks were definitely red now, and she replied, "That's not what I said." 

"Ugh, why did I have to get stuck with you out of all people?" I complained, tired of Mina's nerve, and making a mental note to apply perfume every day to irritate her.

"Come, Momo and Sana are waiting for us," Mina said, prompting us to leave the room. "We don't want to make Momo wait. She's a feisty one."

We arrived on the town gate, and Momo was leaning on a huge red fox. It was probably as big as an elephant, and there were two large bags tied to its back, one of them with a couple of fishing rods protruding. 

"I-Is that Sana?!" I whispered to Mina as we approached them.

"Yes," Mina replied in a whisper, moving her head a bit closer to mine so I could hear her. The sudden proximity made me agitated, and I gulped. "That's one of her fox forms, although she usually prefers the small one. But I have to admit this form will be useful."

"What do you mean with useful?" I asked, a bit puzzled. 

"We're mounting her," Mina answered. "If we go on foot, it'll take too long."

"W-What?" I exclaimed, louder than intended. "Isn't it weird to ride on your friend?"

"Not if your friend can transform into a giant fox," Mina weighed, shrugging. 

"Hi, you two!" Sana exclaimed, and it felt bizarre to listen to her bubbly voice come out of a gigantic fox. "You're just on time!"

"They are five minutes late," Momo grumbled, narrowing her eyes at us. 

"Please forgive us, Momo!" I said, clasping my hands together apologetically. "We would have arrived earlier if Mina wasn't annoying me!"

"She's the one who took ages to get ready," Mina retorted. 

"I see you two are getting along as usual," Sana commented, wagging her tail.

"We're not!" Mina and I said in unison, and I glanced at her surprisingly. 

"See? You're even synchronized!" Sana exclaimed, laughing, before kneeling her body so we could get on top. "Let's go now."

Momo expertly mounted the fox, probably used to this already. She sat on the front, while Mina followed behind, and I just stared at them, unsure of what to do. How am I even supposed to climb on her?

Mina extended her hand to me, catching me by surprise. "Here, I'll help you," she said. I took grasp of her hand, and she firmly clutched it, helping me up.

Her words were normally quite aloof, but her actions always showed the opposite. She was a mystery to me. I wonder why she seemed so unwilling to show her genuine emotions. Perhaps because of her samurai upbringing?

"Thank you," I said, a bit shyly, as I made myself comfortable behind her.

"Don't mention it," she replied, looking away.

Momo patted Sana's neck a few times and said, "Alright, we can go now."

"Hold on tight," the kitsune said before departing, suddenly beginning to run. 

The ride was so bumpy that my first impulse was to cling onto the first thing I saw quickly. That happened to be Mina's back, and before I realized it, I was holding on tightly to her. 

She didn't say a word, and all I could hear were Sana's rapid footsteps against the ground and the intense pounding of my heart. My face was burning red. 

I didn't understand why I was feeling this way, but I brushed it off as the sudden burst of adrenaline from riding a giant fox.

When it was starting to get dark, we decided to stop by a riverbank. The atmosphere was quite relaxing, and it reminded me of when I used to go camping with my parents. 

We used to set up the tent together, and when the night came, we'd roast marshmallows by the bonfire, laughing with each other. This time the circumstances were completely different.

The thought of them pained me, imagining how desperate they were about their daughter who disappeared without leaving a trace. I missed them dearly.

I was so distracted that I didn't even notice that Sana had transformed back into her human form and left to gather some wood so we could make fire. 

"I'm going fishing," Mina suddenly said, grabbing one of the rods inside the bag and going to the river.

"Why is she always like that?" I murmured to myself as I observed the samurai distance herself from us. 

"What do you mean?" Momo curiously asked, picking up on what I said.

"Oh," I said, not expecting her to have listened. "It's just that... I don't know, she always seems so detached from everything."

Momo sat against a tree and sighed. "I've known Mina since we were kids... she used to be a cheerful one. Always running around and helping people. "

It was surprising, but I could imagine that. The thought was endearing, and it seemed like Mina still kept the same helpful spirit from before. She could be a bit grumpy, but I don't know what I'd be doing now if I hadn't met her here.

"But life wasn't easy on her. It isn't easy on anyone when wars are happening," Momo continued speaking. "But having grown up in a samurai family made it especially hard for her. It all got worst after..."

"After what?" I asked, growing tense with Momo's gloominess. 

"A few years ago... the capital was attacked, and her mother was killed," Momo explained with a heavy voice. "Mina was never the same... she was so attached to her. Her father was always strict, so Mina would find comfort in her kindhearted mother."

"I-I... I never imagined that," I spoke after finding my voice, horrified. "I must have been so difficult for her."

Knowing more about Mina's past made me understand her more. It sounded like she lost her only anchor in the unrelenting world she lived in. Somehow, I wanted to try helping her. 

Without giving it much of a second thought, I suddenly said, "I think I'm going to help her with fishing." 

I took the spare fishing rod from the bag and walked towards the lake. Of course, my goal wasn't just to help her catch fishes... I just wanted to try getting closer to her. Even though my time with her was limited, I had to try doing something for her too.

"Need any help?" I asked, smiling brightly at her. 

She seemed surprised with my presence, raising her eyebrows. "Well, I don't need any help," she answered, smirking at me. "Suit yourself though."

"I will," I replied, standing beside her and tossing the hook inside of the water, staring as it began to ripple.

Mina started laughing, and I looked at her, surprised. It was the first time I heard her laughter. It exposed her gums and sounded rather cute and refreshing.

"What is so funny?" I asked, unable to help myself from grinning too.

"You forgot to put bait on the hook," she explained, shaking her head at me, but the smile on her lips told me she was amused. 

"Oh," I said, feeling my cheeks heating up in embarrassment. 

"Do you even know how to fish?" Mina questioned. 

"I used to go fishing with my father when I was a child," I responded. "But in the future, our fishing rods are so modern that we don't need bait! That's why I forgot," I lied, trying to defend myself. Mina wouldn't know about it anyway.

"Is that so? Well, here we use bait," she replied, moving closer to me and putting her hand on top of mine to pull the hook back from the water. Her touch caused a strange sensation in my stomach, but I ignored it. She then kneeled to the ground and seemed to attach something to the hook of my rod.

"There, I put some bait," she explained, washing her hands in the river before getting up. "You can try again now."

"Okay," I responded, still a little nervous. "Thank you." 

I threw the hook inside the water again, hoping I wouldn't make a fool of myself this time. Mina did the same thing with her rod, and for a while, we just observed the water.

"Was something supposed to have happened by now?" I asked, feeling bothered after a few minutes passed.

"You know what they say about fishing," Mina answered. "It takes patience."

I sighed, and when I was about to relax, I felt a tremendous force tugging me towards the lake, so I stepped hardly against the ground, trying to overpower it.

"Whoa, it seems like I caught something big!" I exclaimed, struggling to pull the line back. 

Mina dropped her rod and grasped tightly to mine, trying to help me pull the fish to the surface. We walked backwards together, but suddenly, the other girl fell to the ground with me on top of her. 

Both of us sat on the ground in that awkward position, with her behind me. It left me completely embarrassed. 

"You okay?" I timidly asked. 

"Look at that!" Mina said, and her voice speaking directly into my ears sent shivers down my spine. Her arm pointed to the huge fish twitching its body on the ground in front of us, but I could barely pay any attention.

What was happening to me? 

"That's a rainbow trout," Mina said, sounding impressed as she got up. "It should be enough to feed all of us."

She extended her hand to help me stand, and I finally observed the fish properly. It was colorful one, much bigger than what I was expecting to catch. 

"Wow... and you said you didn't need my help," I smugly remarked, smiling at the other girl who rolled her eyes at me.

"I'm the one who helped you out," she argued, but something on her expression told me she was proud of my achievement. "We should take it back to cook it. 

Upon returning, I could see that Sana and Momo were cooking rice on a clay pot, using a campfire. There was a second one which I assumed was for the fish. Both flames had a vivid blue color, which intrigued me. They also set up a large blanket, along with eating utensils, such as bowls and chopsticks.

"Wow, that's a big fish you have there!" Sana exclaimed, her mouth widened. 

"I'm surprised that we even have rice to cook," I replied, also surprised. 

"What do you think those bags are full of?" Momo asked. "Now let's start cooking that fish because I'm starving." 

Mina unsheathed her katana and impaled the fish, using it as a skewer. The scene was a bit gruesome, so I looked away, feeling uncomfortable until she placed it on top of the fire. 

"Why are the flames blue?" I curiously asked, making small talk as we waited for the food to cook. 

"Ah, I'm the one who set the wood on fire!" Sana exclaimed, sounding proud of herself as she gave me a free sample of her flames by breathing out some into the air. 

"Right," I replied, astonished, still unused to living beings breathing fire out of their mouths. "I almost forgot you're a kitsune."

"I'm not a kitsune," Sana replied, but the twitching ears on top of her head seemed to tell me otherwise, so I raised my eyebrows. "Well, not exactly... I'm half-kitsune."

"What does that mean?" I inquired, feeling even more confused than before.

"It means that not both of my parents are kitsune," she replied, her voice not as cheerful a usual. "To be more specific, my mother is a human, and my father is the kitsune we're looking for. But I've never met either of them..."

"Sana was raised by my family," Momo explained, and the half-kitsune girl nodded. 

"That's right, so I'm practically Hirai Sana," she spoke, her mood seeming lifted again. 

I wondered why her parents didn't want to raise her, but I decided it was best not to push it since it seemed like a touchy subject for Sana. 

"I think the fish is ready," Mina said after minutes of silence, pulling it back from the fire. She and Momo served everyone, and the smell of food made me realize how hungry I was.

"I'm starving!" I said, digging into the food, but after a few bites, I noticed how unseasoned it was. 

I put my bowl down and began searching through my bag until I found a few ketchup sachets that I didn't consume when I had last lunch at that McDonalds. Right before I was transported back to the past. 

"What's that?" Momo asked, glancing curiously at the red sauce that I was pouring over my fish. 

"It's called ketchup," I explained, giving out a sachet for each one of the girls so they could try it too. "It's a sauce from my time. Luckily I had some inside my bag."

Momo and Sana grimaced after tasting it, but Mina reacted very differently. I never saw her face looked so delighted, and she quickly drenched her food with all of the content of her sachet. 

"This red sauce called ketchup is delicious!" Mina blurted out, and I couldn't help giggling because of how happy she looked eating it. She reminded me of a little kid, and I admired her, wondering if I just caught a glimpse of how she used to be like.

"I'm glad you liked it," I replied, resting my face on top of my hand, too distracted by her to pay attention to my food. "I have loads of these inside my bag, so you can have them. They give it out at restaurants."

"They give this out for free?!" She asked astonished. "The 21st century sounds amazing."

"Well, it's not exactly for free," I replied. "We do pay for the food, y'know, they just include this so people can season their food with it if they want to."

Momo and Sana gave the rest of their ketchup to Mina, and we all were shocked at how much she liked it.

After we finished eating, I picked my diary from inside of my bag and sat down against on tree. I wrote about everything that happened since I arrived. 

A lot of it ended up being about Mina. This girl was managing to make a strong impression on me, and I found myself smiling as I wrote down the little details I noticed about the girl that I thought was endearing. 

Like the small moles on her face that almost seemed to form a constellation. Or the way her gums appear whenever her smile was too big, or when she laughed. Although sadly, those were rare. And of course, I couldn't forget about her surprising love for ketchup.

"What are you doing?" I suddenly heard from the person I was writing about. I looked up and saw Mina curiously watching me.

"I like to keep diaries to record my life," I answered, surprised that she approached me, but still smiling at her. 

I tapped the ground beside me a few times, in an attempt to ask her to sit by my side. To my delight, she did precisely that, but I wasn't too eager when I saw her glancing at my diary, and I immediately took it away from her view.

"Diaries are supposed to be private, you know!" I claimed, blushing out of fear that she read what I wrote down.

"I wasn't reading what you wrote," she replied, pointing at the pen I held in my head. "I was looking at this."

I instantly recognized why she was staring. Surely for her, a pen with a cute cartoon frog her on the top looked quite strange. I sighed in relief and explained, "This is my pen. Isn't it cute?"

I held out the pen, and she took it from my hand, carefully inspecting it. "Cute isn't exactly the word I'd use to describe it, but I suppose so," she commented. "It's mostly just odd though."

I giggled, taking it back from her and putting it down along with my diary. Of course, just like most things from the 21st century, this was strange to her.  

"I have a lot of cute pens like this... I'm a literature student. I love reading and also writing, so keeping things like this is like a guilty pleasure of mine," I spoke, opening up about my personal life for the rest time to her. 

I felt so at ease that I leaned my head against hers. She seemed surprised by my actions because I felt her freeze and clasp the fabric of her hakama. 

At first, my heart was fluttering, but I could slowly feel it relax as I got more used to being beside her, and thankfully, I could feel the same happening to Mina, as she appeared increasingly less stiff.

"Is that so?" She softly asked, her voice almost as quiet as a whisper. 

"Mmhmm," I whispered back, feeling my eyelids beginning to tremble. "Maybe I should write a book about my adventures here once I'm back home." 

Mina didn't say anything for a while, and I was almost drifting to sleep when she asked, "Will I be included in your story?" 

Her question earned a smile from me. The answer should be obvious, as she was the person who had the most significant impact on my life ever since I arrived here. 

But I'd be lying if I said that was all there was to it. Mina was starting to genuinely interest me, and I found myself thinking of her all the time.

I closed my eyes, still smiling as I replied: 

"It's a secret."